Creamy tomato soup

Creamy tomato soup

Difficulty: Easy

Time: 30 minutes plus 40 minutes cooking

Serves: 6

I’ve been looking for new soups to make this winter as we tend to stick to our tried and tested carrot or roasted squash soup. This tomato soup is deliciously creamy and flavoursome, the kids both enjoyed it and neither would touch a raw tomato so I think that must make it a serious hit. As much as soup is a welcome winter warmer I think this would be even nicer when tomatoes are at their best in September.

Ingredients

Method

Peel the tomatoes

Bring a large pot of water to the boil and add a few of your tomatoes. After 30 seconds or so the skin should start to crack and peel. At this point, remove them from the pot and put them in a bowl of iced water. We didn’t have ice, but the water from the tap in Scotland in winter is pretty cold so this seemed to work just as well. Leave the tomatoes to cool for a minute, then the skin should just peel off. Repeat this process with the remaining tomatoes.

Some people suggest marking a small cross on the base of the tomato before doing all this to make them easier to peel – it worked for some of ours, but not all so I remain on the fence as to whether this is worth the bother. Comment below if you find it helps!

Prepare the vegetables

Peel and chop the carrots and dice the onion. Quarter the peeled tomatoes.

Cook the vegetables

Heat a little oil in a large pan, and then cook the onions over a medium heat for 5-10 minutes until they have softened.

Add the carrots and tomatoes and give everything a mix and cook for 5 minutes. Keep stirring to make sure nothing sticks to the bottom of the pan.

Add the stock and bring the boil. Once it’s boiling turn down the heat and let it simmer for around 30 minutes. Once it’s ready the vegetables should be soft and the tomatoes quite mushy.

Blend the tomato soup

Remove the soup from the heat and using a hand held stick blender, blitz the soup until it is thoroughly pureed. Alternatively ladle the soup into a blender, a little at a time until it has all been pureed.